We stumbled upon this little German biergarten while waiting for a pizza joint to open.
We wandered back and found a rooster roaming among the tables.
We stayed for a drink, but wished that we had tried more than just one of the brats.
BRATZ Y’ALL
617-B Piety
New Orleans, LA 70117
If you spend any amount of time in NOLA, you will come across a Willie’s Chicken Shack. They’re everywhere! And they’re delicious.
We scored some fried chicken late night before passing out for the night. It was worth every greasy, salty, delicious bite.
WILLIE’S CHICKEN SHACK
428 Canal St.
New Orleans, LA 70130
First, check out my Ride & Review HERE:
I’ve been meaning to try this spot for a while, and then recently a friend told me that their rice rolls with homemade crullers inside are great. I had to give them a try.
They were awesome! These had dry shrimp on them, which packed a lot of flavor. We also had the regular roast pork rice rolls. Tough to choose a favorite.
We figured, while we were here, we may as well try some other stuff. The roast pig was a huge portion for $11, and it was incredible.
The roast duck over rice for $8.50 was a pretty good deal, despite the duck being mostly skin and fat (I don’t mind too much).
We also had this heaping bowl of tripe and wonton noodle soup.
The broth lacked flavor, but the insane portion size of noodles, tons of tasty tripe, and I think six wontons made up for that.
Two people over-stuffed for around $55 all-in, with enough leftovers for another full meal for two. Great deal. I will definitely be back here.
BIG WONG
67 Mott St.
New York, NY 10013
Balvanera is an Argentine wine bar and steak-focused restaurant. We went with another couple, so we were able to try a bunch of stuff.
We started with four small plates:
Octopus
Roasted Beets
Blood Sausage
Burrata & Squash
All of these were really great, but I think we all sort of agreed that the octopus was the best, with the blood sausage either close behind or tied. Really great flavors on this stuff. The blood sausage had none of that grainy, irony, gamey flavor that you sometimes get with low quality or overcooked blood sausage. It had a sticky sweetness to it that was hard to describe. The octopus was so incredibly tender, and the Romesco sauce was killer.
We went with the 25oz, 28-day, dry-aged rib eye for our main course ($120).
This was cooked to a perfect medium rare, but it lacked a little bit of that dry-aged flavor. It was present mostly around the edges and along the bone. But that didn’t matter, because the flavor was so great. This is a solid 8/10 steak, potentially bordering on 9/10 if the aged flavor bumps up on future visits (definitely going back).
For dessert, we did a chocolate tart and flan. Both of these were pretty nice, but I think next time I will focus more on the small plates in the savory department instead of the sweet stuff.
BALVANERA
152 Stanton St
New York, NY 10002
First, check out my Ride & Review video HERE:
Oti is a small Romanian restaurant with a great outdoor space on Clinton Street in the lower east side. My wife and I popped in here for a quick meal. The menu consists of mainly small plates and wine. Here’s what we had:
Farmers Board
This is a nice charcuterie style board with meats, cheeses and dips. At $25 this wasn’t too bad. Great bread too.
Broken Burrata
Pretty self explanatory. This was really delicious.
Bone Marrow Toast
I didn’t get much bone marrow flavor on this, but there was something pickled and sweet on top that threw my taste buds for a loop. This was tasty and had melted cheese on it. It was good despite not following through on the marrow aspect.
Stuffed Pepper
This was probably the best (and biggest) dish we tried. Inside was a nice mixture of spiced meats, rice and cheese. I would definitely get this again. Save some bread to drag through that delicious sauce too.
Meesh
These meatball / kebab style thingies were really nice. That sauce on top was a mustard of sorts. I would definitely get this one again too.
Pickled Grapes
Our waitress suggested these over the pickled Jimmy Nardello peppers to cut the fat and compliment the Meesh. They were SUPER sour. Eating them together with the Meesh was the best way to have them. In hindsight, I wish we had gone with the peppers instead.
OTI
40 Clinton St.
New York, NY 10002
First, check out my Ride & Review video HERE:
My buddy told me about this place, and it looked so good that I needed to try it ASAP. We started with some nice cocktails and moved onto a trio of starters:
Stir Fried Manila Clams
Crispy Pork Jowl
Petite Filet Steak Tartare
These were all fantastic and unique. I think the tartare might have been my favorite, or perhaps dragging the pork jowl through the sauce that came with the clams. So delicious.
For entrees, we tried another trio:
Pad Kua Taley
Pan Roasted Pork Chop
Dry-Aged Rib Eye
These were great too, but a few slight criticisms: First, the noodles were excellent but the squid was a little bit overcooked. This was a delicious dish featuring wide/flat noodles and shrimp, squid, crabmeat, Asian celery, scallion, and sesame oil in a roasted chili sauce. Second, the pork chop was a little bit dry due to being overcooked. Thankfully, the salted chili lime sauce that it came with added that moisture and flavor back into it beautifully.
The steak is a great deal at $68 for 24oz of dry-aged beef on the bone. If I had to guess, this was choice grade. The roasted garlic with tomato, tamarind and dill flavors really help bring out its dry-aged characteristics. Bravo. 9/10.
For dessert, we had some more cocktails and a unique sweet and sticky rice dish that was topped with pumpkin custard.
I was reluctant to put this restaurant into my standard steakhouse review format with 100 points spread across ten categories. I think it would have made for an abnormally low score due to the structure of the review. But this place hits top marks for their bar and decor, with an inviting, bright, wide open and airy space. The flavors are so unique and new for the application into a chop house. The staff are all super friendly, helpful, knowledgeable and attentive. I really enjoyed this meal, and I can’t wait to go back to try the two other cuts of steak on the menu (strip and skirt), and perhaps some of the large format fish dishes as well.
TEAKWOOD THAI CHOPHOUSE
345 Greenwich, St.
New York, NY 10013
I didn’t take any photos of this place, but you can watch my Ride & Review HERE:
This is by far my favorite cheesesteak: The Long Hot. It has steak, crumbled sausage, long hot peppers, cooper sharp, and fried red onions. Perfect. And all on a fresh made sesame seed bun.
You can’t beat it. I’m so happy this place is in my neighborhood. They have great deals on Uber Eats, and awesome happy hour specials.
G’s CHEESESTEAKS
6 Avenue B
New York, NY 10009
Tacos 1986 just opened up in the west village near the corner of West 4th Street and 6th Avenue.
The tacos are $5 each, but I should have gotten the open-face quesadillas for just $0.75 more each.
I did three al pastor tacos, and they were delicious. They had lots of really tasty shaved pork on them, with a nice dollop of guacamole on top.
Great tortillas too. I can’t wait to go back for more.
TACOS 1986
1 Cornelia Street
New York, NY 10014
If you’re in LIC and looking for Vietnamese food, one option you have is Cyclo.
I stopped in here with a few of my ebike friends for a bowl of pho and some other snacks.
The quail egg fried wontons were unique. I would skip on the sweet chili sauce.
The beef skewers were a bit better, in my oopinion.
The clay pot beef stew wasn’t hot enough to crisp up the rice on the bottom of the serving vessel (which wasn’t really hot), but it was tasty and came with a side of veg.
The pho was pretty good. This is on par with some of the basic Chinatown spots near me. This runs you $18, and it came with sliced eye round and brisket.
CYCLO
5-51 47th Ave #573
Long Island City, NY 11101
First, check out my Ride & Review video HERE:
Rosie’s is a big, fun Mexican spot on the corner of 2nd Street and 2nd Avenue. The Cake Dealer and I tried a few items at the bar. They make some nice margaritas here, so definitely start with one of those. If you want a nice bar snack, get the chicharrones. They’re huge and delicious.
One of my favorite items was the squash blossom quesadilla. Everything about this was just perfect. I wish I had ordered three of them.
The tacos here are pretty good, as are the tortillas, which are made right in the middle of the restaurant. You can watch them being made at a bar, like you’re at a sushi counter.
We tried the shrimp, fish and al pastor tacos. Of these, the al pastor was the best, with the shrimp coming in just behind at second place.
We also tried the flan, which was really light and tasty.
We would definitely go back!
ROSIE’S
29 E 2nd St.
New York, NY 10003
